Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Beater Shotgun

Something to spend it's live in a UTV. Prefer pump. Stick with an 870 Express or something else less expensive but serviceable?

Mossberg would seem perfect no?

Hard to beat an 870 or 500 for well under $400.

Mossberg.

Pretty damn reliable.

If you lose it or it gets stolen, what the hell, its just a Mossberg.

As others have said, Remington 870 Express or Mossberg 500 if buying new. Other options are any used gun in your price bracket such as Ithaca 37, Browning BPS, Winchester 1200 or Model 12, Mossberg 835, or Maverick 88. These latter guns can be found pretty cheap on used racks, particularly the plain barreled ones. I have seen these models in the $250 or even less price range in the last couple of years up to last weekend. These would be pretty much the "ultimate" in beater guns.

Ithaca 37,love the easy unloading.Only downfall is no 3".

Mossberg 500. Interchangeable barrels, no tool swap, I have both field barrels and Sabot. It is my first choice shotgun for hunting or home defense, of the several shotguns I have.

Go down to the pawn shop and get whatever is cheap. Pawn shops have an EXCESS of shotguns, at least around here.

Another vote for the Mossberg 500. Yo7 can find them in about any Mom & Pop gun store or pawn shop. Mine is semi-retired but has done it all. It goes hunting once a year to stretch it’s legs.

Haunt your local pawn shop. Look for something that perhaps has been bubba'd a little; crappy recoil pad, driver's license number engraved on the side, etc. If you are beating it up on an ATV or behind the seat of the pick-up....so what? That said, I'd look for an 870 or Mossberg 500 as both work. You might find a 1200/Ranger Winchester that will work too. How many rounds a year are you going to shoot it? 25? 50? They will easily shoot thousands of rounds with just some basic maintenance, maybe a new magazine tube spring every 15 years. Clean the crud out of them, function test, wipe off the exterior every once in and while... and go forth.

870 or 500 either one will fill the bill........Hb

Old police turn-ins can be a good option - lots of them out there. A rough looking but lightly used police 870 is usually a much better gun than a new or recent 870 Express, and often under $250 if you haggle a little. If you want a different barrel than the 20in they usually have just hit the nearest gunshow - there's almost always someone with a rack of 870 barrels. But if you're planning to keep it on an atv the short barrel is a plus.

That's my latest purchase, was looking for a camp gun. Found an older police magnum, wood stock a little beat up, standard mag tube, 20 in IC barrel with rifle sights - $235 from an FFL dealer at a gun show. Still has a side saddle shell carrier and the department inventory sticker on grip from some little town.

Also found a late 70's original version Ithaca 37 Deerslayer 12 gauge. Smooth bore removable 20 in barrel, rifle sights, a little over $300, pretty good condition. Picked that one up too!

Probably have enough pump shotguns now when you throw in my mid 80's Rem 870 12 gauge (28 in barrel with tubes) and Kings Ferry made Ithaca 37 Featherweight 16 gauge (24 in IC barrel and 28 in barrel with choke tubes).

Marlin goose gun

Mossy 835 with the turkey barrel would be my choice. Short. Tough. Heavy to reduce recoil, and you won't be carrying it around much. Capable of shooting any shell that might somehow show up. And they almost all throw great patterns with most any ammo.

I had one and it sucked to the nth degree.

Found a Browning BPS Stalker for $225, I just need to cut the barrel down now.

Scott is find a police trade in 870


Or buy a benelli m4

All my shotguns are beaters. They are tools to go through the brush with. I have a Franchi L48 that I beat the crap out of but now I regret being so hard on it . I got it when I was 15 for 175 dollars tax and all.

Whatever you get make sure it has a short barrel..
That way you don’t have to pull the trigger with your big toe....

I guess that's how flipper has to shoot one.

I use a single shot , coast to coast branded ,H & R 12.
Rides in the scabbard always.if it has worn the finish some,I never noticed.
.it does have a birch foreend and a walnut buttstock.
Has a bulge in the barrel about in the middle,would be too short if cut off.
Have taken a few grouse with it.
Had to buy a few springs for it awhile back,so it doesn't have the forend taped anymore.

If you shop around online, you can usually find one of those Turkish or Chinese 870 Knockoffs for around a $100 bucks or so.
Or wait till Wallmart or Academy puts their Remington 870 express models on sale for $199.

My beater truck gun is a clean old model Ithaca 37 made in the 50's that I picked up cheap at a Gunshow for $175 bucks because it had a 30" barrel with a full choke. I think my local gunsmith charged me $30 bucks to chop it down to a 20" barrel with a new bead.

Go to digging around, you might find an extra shotgun or two in your wife’s folds...

I see SKB's on the used rack at many stores for cheap.

Maverick 88, usually on sale for $180 or so. That or a used Mossberg 500, 870, etc.

If you think the 835 is heavy, what do you consider a light shotgun?

Steel shot or not? fixed choke? Mossberg for a newer one, the 870 Express...... If no need for steel and removable chokes then market is wide open for a bunch of good ones. Ithaca 37, Winchester Model 12, ETC.

Benelli M2, Remington 31L, Ithaca 37 Ultrafeatherweight for some. But really, I find that 7 pounds is the cutoff between a light 12 for all-around use and one that is not as fun to carry all day for pheasants. An 835 is great for field geese though.

A couple of years back, I picked up a Winchester Model 12 12 ga that had been a US Govt issue ( marked US and the flaming bomb on the receiver) that had likely been a Bureau of Prisons riot gun. Someone had installed a Cutts w/an IC tube. The gun shows some external wear, no rust, and the action shows little use. I picked it up at a pawn shop for something under $180 including taxes. How can you go wrong here? I have an old Lyman adjustable choke assembly on a spare A-5 barrel. IIRC, the adjustable dingus screws right into the Cutts, if I want to, making the old M12 good to go for everything from dove to deer and duck. If it is not in the safe, it rides my ATV.

Jack

I bought my Mossberg 500 used for under $200. Light cosmetic imperfections, after 4 years I’ve abused that gun so badly I don’t know how it still holds together. But it’s never once failed to go “boom” for me and it brought down plenty of birds for me this year.

Used 870 express. Serviceable rendition of a fine design.

Most of the other pumps mentioned are too nice to neglect, and the mossberg 500 is too much a heap of chite to fathom (having owned the pos as a youth, and won’t forgive).

Agreed. I've only ever sold one gun in my life and it was a NWTF 835. That thing was a piece of garbage.

Rem 870. An IC choke for shooting your basic schit.

Guess you guys wouldn't want to spend much time in Dakota goose blinds then. Everyone has a beater 835 for backup and loaner, and I've not met anyone with any problems except the plastic safety buttons can break.

What problems did you actually have?

Love 870's...














DMc

Remember.........if you take your ATV in to a mechanic, that it's proly the 500 rattling like a sumbitch.

I've had 870 Wingmasters from the 70's/80's.
Special Purpose and Special Fields too.
Am content with my Express Supermag.
I treat it like crap and it still looks new.........worry free cheap arsed used gun (paid $215 for it).
Also salvaged a couple of beater 1100's.........an SP and reg.
Into them cheap as well.